


Death and the Boy

by esama



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Character Death, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-01-02
Updated: 2014-01-02
Packaged: 2018-01-07 04:15:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 6,271
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1115380
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/esama/pseuds/esama
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Dumbledore isn't at the King's Cross station, and Harry is more than the Master of Death.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Originally posted on fanfiction.net on 06/19/2010  
> Proofread by Darlene and Sarah

 

1\. Bridge

 

Death finds the boy on the bridge between life and death, hidden underneath a bench, forgotten and abandoned like an unneeded, unwanted puppy, waiting for a train that won't come for him.

 

2\. Polishing

 

The boy is dirty, covered in the filth of life and death and things people don't mention, and though there was no need, no use, Death brushes his hand over the dirty skin, revealing the wounds beneath.

 

3\. Better

 

Life ruins people, bringing them into contact with the horrors and stains they try to hide from each other, but in the end only end up spreading; life covered the boy in its cuts and burns, but Death doesn't know if he's better or worse because of it.

 

4\. Relief

 

The boy whimpers and whines as Death heals his wounds of life and brings forth what could've been, what should've been and, most importantly, what could be; silence comes with purity and with it, freedom.

 

5\. Laughter

 

Death smiles softly while wrapping the child into a veil of midnight blue, wondering if it's the first time the boy feels soft cloth on unblemished skin - the boy laughs like it tickles him.

 

6\. Paradise

 

Now that the boy is clean, Death has options to choose from and decisions to make - most importantly; where to take the boy - but for now he merely sits down with the boy and holds him in the perfect white of the station, content to sit still for a while.

 

7\. Dialog

 

"People would never appreciate this," Death says to the boy, looking over the station, the white train tracks, the perfectly still calm surrounding them, and continues, "but it is kind of nice, don't you agree?"

 

8\. Earning

 

Of course, Death knows that not all see the station; it's the privilege of very few and it’s very strange, as most people tend to die in straightforward and simple ways and only the rare strange death could lead people here.

 

9\. Flight

 

Death lifts the boy up, high over his head and watches as the child spreads his legs and arms and lets out a shriek of joy, free and unchained by the gravity holding Death still to the ground.

 

10\. Grab

 

But it's more than gravity holding Death - the hold of life and responsibility is stronger, and though he tries to hold on to this moment of innocent wonder, he knows time is against him.

 

11\. Separation

 

So he pulls the boy to his arms again and stands up, knowing it was time to choose between the two paths to go, knowing that no matter which he would choose it would be the last either of them saw of the serene, peaceful station.

 

12\. Fairy

 

It seems oddly wrong to have to choose for the boy as well, but it's Death's duty, so no matter how innocent and helpless and oddly beautiful the boy seems, no matter how fey-like the boy laughs and smiles, the choice has to be made; onwards or backwards.

 

12\. Stiff

 

It makes Death feel oddly old, though he is not old at all; it makes his bones ache and his back grow still, makes his steps seem clumsy and his hands too big to hold the boy in them.

 

13\. Overflow

 

His eyes grow misty and his throat aches, odd emotion welling up in his chest as he looks down to the boy, feeling like he doesn't have the right, all the while knowing only _he_ has the right.

 

14\. Vector

 

But in the end his steps are sure and his arms hold the boy steady to his chest, his heart steels and his eyes grow determined - he had made the choice a while back and though onward seems like the most peaceful solution, he has duties and even the innocence of a child can't make him choose otherwise.

 

15\. Scroll

 

He leaves behind a piece of parchment, underneath the bench where he found the boy; here I found him, here I took him, and here I made the choice - live and let live.

 

16\. Rope

 

The journey back is brief and cold and on the way Death holds onto the boy tightly, like his last lifeline - which, he thinks, is not as ironic as it should be, all things considered.

 

17\. Written

 

One day Death knows he might pen it all down, what happened at the station, the choice he made, and the consequences that followed.

 

18\. Option

 

The ground is cold and unforgiving underneath his cheek and he is in danger, he knows as much; but whatever choice he had of what would or could follow died with the cry of the boy resting still in his formerly empty arms.

 

19\. Disposition

 

The mood of the air changes in an instant and Death moves, reaches out and yells out curses and magic and unnatural protection; this is what he is now, what will be his nature and what will have to be because that is what the boy needs him to be.

 

20\. Draft

 

Drawings and sketches of Death tend to show a skeleton wielding a scythe, and maybe they are right but this time Death is a blood stained, scarred young man wielding a wand and holding a crying infant to his chest - and one day someone will paint galleries of paintings of him.

 

21\. Attempt

 

They try very hard to kill him, to down him, they curse him and hex him and jinx him, trying their very best to make him fall and stay down - but even Death Eaters cannot truly beat Death.

 

22\. Heading

 

And in answer Death sends them to where he’d come from, and beyond - these people will never stop by the station, they will only see the trains and the beyond and unlike him and the boy, they will never come back.

 

23\. Opus

 

Death conducts the dying with his wand, and their cries are the choir singing and their curses are the instruments - the concussion beat of misfired spells that hit the ground and the sorrowful string's wail of a spell flying past, creating a horrible symphony that only Death can appreciate.

 

24\. Change

 

Everything is different now and he can feel it, like tingling inside his skin, a slow burn somewhere in his chest and ice in his head, everything has been altered and he is no longer the same, but the greatest difference is in how little he minds being Death.

 

25\. Converting

 

Bodies litter the ground in display and someone is screaming; he shouldn't have and couldn't have been able to arrange, but he has and he feels content about it, even as the boy whimpers against his chest - the bodies are dead and the spirits are Death's now.

 

26\. Valve

 

The outpour that is his and comes from him and fills him with odd serenity stills and Death quiets down, turning to face the man who is and was and will never again be the boy who is still resting against Death's chest, cradled by his left arm - and they both know which one of them is truly the outlet of death.

 

27\. Swap

 

There are no words to say, no explanations either of them need, because Death knows what he is and so does Voldemort; in the end all that is needed is a lifting of wands and spells exchanged, ending the reign of one in the flight of a borrowed wand, and starting the rein of another as Death reaches and catches the Elder Wand as it rushes to join its master.

 

28\. Datum

 

The Hallows are together in the hold of their master; the Cloak safely tucked away in his pocket, the Ring still adorning his right middle finger and the Wand, now in his hand, completing the set of three - completing the Master of Death for now and forever.

 

29\. Transmitter

 

The air fills with cries and screams and laughter, the sudden conduct of joy and relief and freedom as a war ends - and in the noise the silence relays the unease of those who had seen the first steps of Death on Earth.

 

30\. Given

 

 _Thank you_ , they say, confused and cautious, _thank you, thank you,_ thanking him for ending the war, all the while worrying, _why_ and _how_ and _when_ he had become capable of killing, and not just killing, but killing so many people, so soon, so quickly, so easily - but they don't judge him, don't dare to, because he has granted them peace - and because inside their hearts they fear him and don't know why.

 

31\. Weakness

 

Death doesn't mind and doesn't care, because now that the threat is over, all there is left is him and the boy, who whimpers in his arms at the noise, at the lingering fear of what had just happened and tiredness - a weakness Death can allow even if it's not one he still shares.

 

32\. Tense

 

The people around him look at him and follow him, congratulating and thanking him all the while keeping their distance; Death doesn't care as they no longer matter, and instead of answering the uneasy and nervous questions he smiles to the boy, his old enemy and his new life, and makes the people around him even more nervous.

 

33\. Pity

 

"The poor child," a woman says while stepping to Death's side, "Give him here, Harry dear, I will take care of him," she continues, reaching for the boy, "The poor child," she repeats again, not knowing she's pitying the boy for all the wrong reasons.

 

34\. Playing

 

But of course Death doesn't let her have the child, and moves away from her and all the others who offer to relieve his burden, making them frown and narrow their eyes, asking him what he is doing, where did he get the child, what was going on, "Why the hell are you playing with that kid, mate?" But it's not a game, not really.

 

35\. See

 

"Death is with you," a woman with frazzled hair and large glasses whispers when he walks by her, "Dead by your hand," a dark skinned man murmurs, worried and frowning, "Death to you," curses one of the survivors of the other side, bound and tied and angry and defeated, "Dead because of you," someone hisses in the background, holding a dead child, too young to fight, "Death," they all say, not really knowing who they were addressing.

 

36\. Chief

 

They clean up and pick themselves up, prisoners are taken away and victors are toasted, wounds are wrapped and the dead are buried, while leaders come forward and gather everyone around to listen to the new truth and the new way of life - and amidst them Death walks, still cradling the boy, knowing that though people are watching him, following him and still shaking his hands in gratitude, he would never again be one they would willingly follow.

 

37\. Paragraph

 

Eventually Death slips away between the clusters of people, the mourning and the joyful, and takes the boy with him - the war won and lost is not his anymore, neither is it the boy's, and while the survivors figure out a new way to live, he leaves on his own, alone with the boy and his new way of being.

 

38\. Bob

 

The work begins almost immediately after, regardless of time or duty or the whimpers of the boy, so death rocks the boy into silence in his arms, brushes his head gently, calms him down, and makes his way towards his first protégé, his first customer.

 

39\. Terrorist

 

He becomes a whisper and a legend in the course of the night, and a nightmare in a week; they speak tales of him in pubs and in dark saloons: how he survived, how he killed and how people now see him where someone dies, walking away with their spirits - he is their saviour and their nightly terror.

 

40\. Proximity

 

What he has to do is easy in the long run, the only complicating factor is what _they_ do; when people die, they are rarely happy about it and usually they fight against it, rage against _him_ , trying to make him undo what happened - but in the end it doesn't matter, as all Death has to do is to be there and his work is done.

 

41\. Alphabet

 

Death teaches the boy to speak with the names of the dead, and the boy learns their curses and cries against Death as the first thing he learns - before knowing how to walk, the boy knows how much people fear and hate his dark haired guardian.

 

42\. Bishop

 

And while Death walks, his living friends mourn after him, knowing he is lost to them; Hermione Granger studying what she can about the Hallows and death and Horcruxes, Ronald Weasley gathering his things and putting them away, knowing his friend won't need them while he travels the world, sideways and strange.

 

43\. Sail

 

Moving is easy for Death and the boy now, no longer confined to walking or vehicles or even apparition; Death moves like the wind without needing to touch the ground, he goes through the trees and the walls without ever needing to go around anything, the boy sailing the world in his arms, safe and free.

 

44\. Music

 

They hear the world from all sides, Death listening to the cries, curses and whimpers with a kind smile and merciless eyes, the boy hearing the laughter and the melodic tunes and joining them whenever he could, each listening to their own music in their own way.

 

45\. Impress

 

"I am very wealthy, I could give you all the riches you want," says one man, as Death escorts him away from the bleeding corpse; "I know all sorts of magic, I could make your wildest dreams come true," promises a sorcerer while Death steers him towards the train; "I am very pretty, you could have me for all eternity," a woman promises him and pleads with him, as he helps her find a seat; "Daddy, look what I made," the boy says holding up a drawing of a crude skeleton with a scythe, and Death is very impressed.

 

46\. Dream

 

The boy sleeps through most of Death’s work, resting his head on Death's shoulder and innocently dreaming away while Death leads another spirit towards the train; dreaming of light and bright colours and flowers and trains and cars and bicycles while Death ignores the cursing and accusing and threatening of his protégé of the moment.

 

47\. Scene

 

The boy adjusts to the hand resting over his eyes, hiding from his sight another scene of death, protecting him from blood and gore; he doesn't bother to try and see because he knows what he would see - because at his young age, he knows exactly what his guardian is and what he does and what are the scenes they travel through every hour of every day.

 

48\. Spoiling

 

Death denies the boy nothing - as they walk, the boy eats and drinks and enjoys candy and ice creams, his clothes change and he has toys and on the rare quiet moments Death tells him stories and reads him books - except for a home and friends, the boy lacks nothing.

 

49\. Internal

 

Sometimes, in those rare quiet moments, Death remembers the boy he used to be, even if only very vaguely; the boy with green eyes and black hair and magic and friends and dreams - and a life and a heartbeat.

 

50\. Frightening

 

Death scares everyone, the boy can see it all the time: on the faces and in the actions of those his guardian picks up and escorts to the train - they fear him and hate him and wish they could escape him but they never can and though he can't really understand all of it, he feels a little sorry for them because they don't know his guardian the way he does.

 

51\. Laugh

 

They tell tales of Death and the Boy, how the black haired, green eyed Death comes, followed by a little black haired and dark eyed boy: Death rarely says much, listening and guiding and preferring to fall silent, but the boy laughs and laughs, his steps are light and joyous even as he holds Death's hand, and together they take people away from life.

 

52\. Exempt

 

No one escapes Death, not even the boy and as years go by, the boy grows older until Death can't carry him in his arms and instead the boy crawls and walks and runs, whichever he prefers, never knowing why it made Death so sad to see him grow another day, another month, another year older.

 

53\. Fond

 

The boy was a duty he’d picked up in the station between life and death, leftover from a barbarous act, a reason for his survival - a responsibility he bears because of another's mistake - but still Death loves him more with each passing hour and second, hating the time as it ticked by, taking away yet another moment from the boy's life.

 

54\. Folk

 

Eventually the boy is eleven and a letter catches up with them as they pick another life from Earth; two sheets sealed in a parchment envelope, an invitation to a school and to a nation of magic.

 

55\. Orient

 

Death takes the boy to the street and together they explore magic, touching and examining and buying until the boy has everything he needs from clothes to knowledge and a general understanding - and the people on the street know that Death's son is going to Hogwarts.

 

56\. Drug

 

They take away one more protégé together before it is time to head to the physical train station - a boy dead by overdose - and while Death guides the fidgety dead boy to the white train, the living boy wonders how many times he has seen the trains, been inside the trains, and still kept on living afterwards.

 

57\. Soup

 

Platform nine and three quarters is full of people, of wizards and witches of all ages, students and children being guided by their parents and teachers - and among them, Death walks, followed by the boy who looks around wide eyed and full of wonder, never having seen so many people all at once.

 

58\. Field

 

Of course, soon there is a wide empty space around them as people instinctively realise who Death is and that it's not safe to be so near, all except the children who, blind to the fears of their parents, walk through the bubble of dread around Death, ignoring the strange man saying solemn goodbyes to his son.

 

59\. Introduction

 

The boy makes his way through the real train, not white like the trains he usually sees, and finds himself a place to sit at the far end and there he sits alone until another boy joins him, saying, "You don't mind if I join you, right? Name's Teddy Lupin." To which the boy answers, "Tommy Potter," and they spend half an hour in awkward silence.

 

60\. Proportion

 

Death goes on alone, leaving his boy to the guidance of the living and returning to his corner of existence and his side of life.


	2. Chapter 2

61\. Twin

 

George Weasley sees Death for the first time when he is almost twenty one - sees the being who had once been the best friend of his younger brother walk through a street full of people, a quietly slumbering child resting in his arms, and a disgruntled woman following closely behind, complaining about death - and when he later hears about the accidental death of a young witch, he wonders if Harry, Death, would be the one to take him to Fred when the time came.

 

62\. Feasibility

 

Hermione doesn't believe it for a long time, searching instead for other explanations and never truly sitting down and seriously considering that her best friend could have actually became the anthropomorphic personification of _Death_ of all things, because it's just silly.... She researches and reads and studies and even becomes the leader of the Department of Mysteries, and eventually bends because the alternative is that Harry just ran away and that is not an acceptable option.

 

63\. Hide

 

Ginny's friends tease her about Harry Potter for a while, saying that he’d run away from her and now lived hidden away on some tropical island with some other girl, but she never listened because she’d been there, she’d seen it all, and she knew that the boy she’d loved was long gone.

 

64\. Election

 

Kingsley becomes the Minister for Magic against his will, but never really complains about it because he knows that the other true candidate in the non-existent election was dead - in more ways than one.

 

65\. Flip

 

Luna paints a muggle coin she found, one side white and one side black, and every time she flips it, she wonders who Harry is meeting today.

 

66\. Ghost

 

Sir Nicholas de Mimsy-Porpington sometimes thinks back to the boy with black hair and green eyes and so many wishes and hopes, looking up to him and trying to find assurances about his dead godfather and wonders whether the boy found the godfather - and if Death could one day come visit him again because this time, he would make a different choice.

 

67\. Tactic

 

Minerva finds an old chessboard in her predecessor's office, a fine thing made from bone and ebony, pieces still laid out in mid-game, and can't find a defining pattern or strategy - or an answer to whether Harry Potter had been a Pawn or a King.

 

68\. Poisoning

 

Horace Slughorn is dying, has been for a long time - a potion mishap decades past, that slowly but steadily transformed the blood inside his veins - and while he keeps Death at bay with potions and tonics, he tries to come up with what he will say to him, when the time comes.

 

69\. Court

 

Lucius Malfoy is sentenced to a decade in Azkaban in the very same court room where Harry Potter once escaped expulsion - and no one but the black haired, green eyed being standing in the crowd knows why he mutters his gratitude and joy when he walks out of it.

 

70\. Warming

 

Charlie Weasley never knew Harry Potter that well, but he thinks that he might have learned to know him better than most later - he and Death spent two days together while keeping vigil over his co-worker and when the burns finally kill Charlie's friend, Death is very kind.

 

71\. Dialect

 

Fleur sees Death and the boy in passing while visiting her grandparents' house - Death doesn't speak, but still understands as she asks him for a moment with her grandfather, before he passes away.

 

72\. Named

 

"Does he have a name?" Neville asks softly while pulling a sheet over his grandmother's relaxed face; and after a moment of silence Death looks down to the boy in his arms, and says, "Tom Potter."

 

73\. Artist

 

Dennis Creevey started painting to remember his brother - Colin's photographs might not have been perfect, but they deserved a second memorial - and though he doesn't think himself much of a painter yet, one day he would be known as Death's Artist.

 

74\. Valuable

 

Molly lost two of her sons in one day, a fact no one rebukes even if one of them wasn't by blood, and isn't officially dead - but what no one knows is that she gained a new son and a grandson the very same day and how she cherishes the rare times Death needs a babysitter.

 

75\. Jest

 

Lee Jordan at first thought it was a horrible, cruel joke or maybe some sort of Ministry propaganda, a cover up, people trying to hide the hero's death in ancient fables - it wouldn't have been the first time - but he knows the joke is up when he sees Death and the boy standing by his great aunt's bed.

 

76\. Clock

 

Draco Malfoy can't believe that he walked out of Azkaban and a future of misery, but somehow he did, somehow he ended up as a free man without any charges, a situation made even more unbelievable by what he witnessed _that night_ , but he doesn't take a single second of it for granted because he knows who will be waiting for him when his time runs out.

 

77\. Student

 

Unlike Hermione, who goes to work in the Ministry, Ron returns to school where he intends to study for all his worth, until his head is filled with all the knowledge and magic Harry will never learn.

 

78\. Clearer

 

Sybil Trelawney stops being a Seer not long after the Boy Who Lived dies; she sells her crystal balls, burns her cards, never drinks tea again and chucks away her star charts and all her books, she even stops looking into mirrors - because Death is everywhere now, and seeing _him_ isn't as wonderful as it once was.

 

79\. Doe

 

The portrait of Severus Snape doesn't face into the headmaster's office and is instead situated so that he has a clear view out the window - a kindness, or maybe disgust, motivating Minerva to make it so, he doesn't really care which it is because from this angle he can clearly see the silvery deer, walking by Death in the Forbidden Forest.

 

80\. Driver

 

Sometimes Arthur thinks back to his youngest son's tale of the flying car and what happened to it, viewing the tale in a completely new light after Harry's change - wondering whether Death had once been Life.

 

81\. Able

 

The Ministry hires Rita Skeeter as the author for Harry Potters biography, not because they need it, not because she is a good writer, but because they can - because it's the most suitable punishment for her they can think of.

 

82\. Hardy

 

Bill Weasley doesn't think much about Harry Potter really, too busy living and loving and enjoying life, but when his son is born he thinks of Death maybe a little too often.

 

83\. Heavy

 

It takes years before Andromeda Tonks forgives Harry Potter and even longer before she forgives Death, but despite her grudges Teddy Lupin grows up knowing exactly who and what his Godfather is.

 

84\. Note

 

Lavender tries for a long while not to think about Harry, because it’s so strange and odd and unbelievable and despite all the stories, she doesn't quite believe, but when Death walks her way to deliver a message from her grandmother, healthy just the day before, she becomes a believer.

 

85\. Complement

 

Narcissa Malfoy accepts what happened to her family, it was only fair for all the things they’d done, but she never says how right she finds Harry Potter's change - for the Boy Who Lived to become Death who one day will collect them all, it's his right and their right punishment for the way they treated their hero.

 

86\. Organisation

 

Percy never goes back to the Ministry, not even when its ways are changed, and instead he creates a service to help war orphans and veterans, even builds an orphanage and a training centre eventually - and when Death collects one of his from a warm bed, surrounded by friends, he knows he's doing the right thing.

 

87\. None

 

Padma Patil has nothing against Harry Potter - but when Death comes to collect her boyfriend after a spell accident, she thinks nothing will make her forgive him.

 

88\. Lean

 

Hannah Abbot doesn't see Death herself, but she hears plenty of stories about him from her friends and then from her customers when she buys the Three Broomsticks, and eventually even from her boyfriend, who talked with Death when his grandmother died - she rests at his side, warm and content and wonders if Death is, too.

 

89\. Ruining

 

Marge attends Colonel Fubster's funeral out of very rare fondness towards the man, rather than because of appearances like she usually does - and there he is, the _boy_ , standing by the casket with a brat in his arms, ruining the passing of a great man.

 

90\. Instrumental

 

Sometimes Marietta Edgecompe wonders if it was all her fault - it was because of her that Dumbledore left Hogwarts that year, and then she’d heard that Sirius Black was dead, Harry Potter's _godfather_ , and the next year Dumbledore had made _Snape_ the defence professor, like trying desperately to avoid the same mistakes… it's a long line of events that all lead back and then ahead and now Harry Potter being what he is, she fears that when her time comes, Death will blame her for it all.

 

91\. Car

 

Dudley stands for a long while beside the burning car, first waiting for the fire brigade and then talking with the police about the accident he’d witnessed, in which a woman and two kids had all died, and he never tells anyone that he saw his cousin there, only wonders when Harry had gotten a kid of his own.

 

92.Bay

 

Millicent Bulstrode never returned to Hogwarts for her seventh year, and was instead transferred to Durmstrang because her parents wanted nothing to do with what was going on in Britain. She decides to stay there as a teaching assistant to study for her Defence mastery and thus doesn't find out about Harry Potter before a first year student drowns at the Durmstrang harbour.

 

93\. Starting

 

For a long while, Dean Thomas doesn't know what to do with himself, after all he's seen and done and fought for, everything seems oddly bland. And for a long time he doesn't think he will ever find out, but when the rumours about Death and the boy start, he decides anything is better than doing nothing.

 

94\. Hazard

 

Hagrid cries for a long time for Harry, feeling like the boy he knew really had died in the forest, right in front of his eyes - even a talk with Death doesn't help that, but one day he will realise that unlike before, now no one can ever again hurt Harry Potter.

 

95\. Differential

 

Hermione Granger isn't the only one who studies Death; Terry Boot spends months in libraries, reading and reading, and long before Granger gives up, he knows the difference between the Grim Reaper and Harry Potter.

 

96\. Express

 

Cho regrets many things; never saying she loved Cedric, ruining her chances with Harry - but what she regrets the most is that she still can't get her message across, even when Death squeezes her shoulder compassionately and the boy smacks a kiss on her cheek, and the two of them take her father away.

 

97\. Danger

 

Pansy Parkinson never accepts the rumours or tales, scoffing at them even when they write books about Death and his boy, complete with witness accounts and _pictures_ \- and when Harry Potter comes for her uncle, she tries to kick him out of her house with little success.

 

98\. Programming

 

Petunia thinks of him sometimes and feels responsible - she knows without anyone needing to tell her that her nephew is gone - and maybe some of that was her fault, she’d been a bad parent to the boy and she knows it, but she never blames herself; after all, she wasn't the one who’d made her hate magic, and if someone was to blame, it was Lily and that horrible boy.

 

99\. Congratulations

 

A fan dies in a stampede at the stadium, and Oliver finds that there is nothing quite as strange as Death shaking your hand after a game - or the knowledge that Death is a Quidditch fan.

 

100\. Launch

 

Xenophilius Lovegood starts a new magazine - a leaflet really - that is delivered alongside the Quibbler; it's called _Death Today_ , and he isn't too surprised when it ends up being more popular than Quibbler itself.

 

101\. Handbook

 

In _Death Today_ Seamus reads about the death of this and that person and follows Harry Potter as he wades through life and the living, and wonders if it's time he stopped believing what he reads.

 

102\. Stress

 

The most horrible thing about Azkaban for Dolores, even topping the nightmares, the constantly relived past terrors and the knowledge that all she did was for nothing, is that Death is a frequent visitor who won't pardon her and instead passes her cell with the words, "not yet, professor" while heading to free someone else from their torment.

 

103\. Lecturer

 

Cuthbert Binns never teaches his students about Death even though they often ask, but sometimes he tells the tale of Harry Potter as it _is_ , not as people believe it went.

 

104\. Tire

 

Aberforth is exhausted, older than he ever thought he would be and still going strong, still working even though he gets more sick of it every day, gets annoyed with wiping tables and serving drinks and still keeps at it, still living on when everyone else he’s known is dead - and he’s tired of waiting for Death to come his way.

 

105\. Incidence

 

Susan has always felt like an orphan - her father died in the first war, her aunt died in the second - so when her mother, who’d never been quite right after her husband's death, falls ill, she doesn't really feel as terrified as she probably should've, knowing that soon she'd be all alone; she can't even mourn for her mother because Death has a friendly, smiling face.

 

106\. Hour

 

Katie cries and cries and cries and hardly even notices Death lowering the boy from his arms to the floor so that he can pick up her new born daughter instead – a daughter who’d lived only for an hour.

 

107\. Social

 

Gilderoy, even with his scattered mind, is a talker and a well-liked man, and always willing to exchange a word or two with anyone nearby - and he doesn't quite understand why the nurse faints, finding him chatting away with a green eyed, black haired young man who with his young son had come to pay a visit to a comatose patient.

 

108\. Update

 

Vernon scoffs to himself while rustling a newspaper in his hand, reading an article about a train wreck; in the photograph of the accident, one of the spectators looks suspiciously like his useless nephew - and it _would_ be like Harry, to recklessly take a kid to see something like that.

 

109\. Preface

 

Viktor rarely needs introductions and though he shakes hands often he usually doesn't need to say anything - which makes it even more interesting when Death introduces him to his son at the funeral of one of Viktor's old teachers.

 

110\. Cell

 

Michael Corner becomes an Auror, more in hopes of impressing an old flame than because he feels like he should, but he figures that he might not continue being one for long - not after seeing Death and the boy taking away a prisoner after the dark witch committed suicide right under his nose.

 

111\. Wing

 

Angelina never really stops playing Quidditch, even playing as reserve for the Holyhead Harpies for a while, but she can't play seriously, not with the history of having Harry on her team once - no other Seeker is quite as good as Death was.

 

112.Building

 

Grimmauld Place number 12 is just a house, the items inside it just items, but for some reason, despite all his attempts, Mundungus can never get inside again - he never can tell if it's because of his intentions or because it's owned by Death now.

 

113\. Nice

 

Gabrielle is young, maybe a little bit too young, to not fear Death – that’s what her parents say whenever she goes on another adventure, hunting Nundus, tracking down dark wizards and items, and braving cursed tombs and temples at the risk of her own life - but how could she fear Death, when he saved her life once?

 

114\. Censor

 

Filius reads all the books they write about Harry Potter, the old ones that know nothing and the new ones that think they know everything, and can't help but think that they’re missing a lot of facts - though he isn't sure whether it's because the writers don't know, or because they just don't dare to write them down.

 

115\. Nickname

 

Parvati still remembers how she and the other girls used to talk about Harry Potter when they were in school - when Harry had been just the Boy Who Lived to Be Oblivious to Everything - and sometimes she wishes she would've called him Green Eyes, even if just once.

 

116\. Documentary

 

Poppy Pomfrey still has Harry Potter's long medical records, which have everything from his birth certificate to his muggle medical records and the parchments she herself filled out, meticulously writing down malnourishment and undergrowth, the vitamin and mineral deficiencies, and numerous wounds, injuries and scars - she isn't quite sure why she hasn't thrown it away yet.

 

117\. Business

 

Sprout is the one who writes the Hogwarts acceptance letters now, and who gives the introduction to muggleborns - it's a traditional duty of the Deputy of Hogwarts, one she enjoys, but not one she expected to lead her sit down at Death's table.

 

118\. Cap

 

Amos Diggory sighs and pulls his hat from his head, pressing it against his chest instead as watches without a word as Harry Potter takes another loved one from his home.

 

119\. Cloud

 

Firenze never sees Death in person, but he can track down his path in the stars, seeing his handprint on future wars and catastrophes - and he never says how relieved he is every time it rains.

 

120\. Jelly

 

Dumbledore's portrait is prone to sighs and silent musings - often he looks back to his plans and strategies and wonders how wrong he’d been - and while he shifts uneasily in his frame, he wonders if Death liked sweets.


End file.
